Activists Sue to Block L.A. Stadium

Activists filed a lawsuit challenging the 10,000-page environmental impact report produced by the developer of the $1.5 billion National Football League stadium planned for downtown Los Angeles.

A group of low-income housing and environmental activists, calling themselves the Play Fair at Farmers Field Coalition, filed a lawsuit last week against Anschutz Entertainment Group, the developer.

The lawsuit contends that Senate Bill 292, the expedited EIR law passed by state legislators last year is unconstitutional, because it allows AEG to bypass the Los Angeles County Superior Court and go straight to the state Court of Appeals for a decision on legal challenges.

“A project of this size will have enormous environmental and other health impacts on surrounding communities,” the coalition said in a statement. The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to vote on EIR on Sept. 28.

The City Council approved a nonbinding agreement with AEG in August. Under the proposal, the developer would raze half of the city’s convention center and two parking garages to make way for the stadium. The city would use adjacent land it owns to construct a replacement hall for the convention center.

AEG would pay a fair-market value to lease the city-owned land under the stadium. The money from the lease will be used to pay off $275 million of tax-exempt bonds to build the new convention center hall.

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